26 May Expedia.Com, Dream Ent, Ink $Multimillion Deal

Jamaica’s leading entertainment tourism company, Dream Entertainment Limited, has just signed a deal with the world?s biggest online travel services provider Expedia.com.

Expedia.com operates under brands including Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, and Trivago. Dream Entertainment hopes to capitalise on the global nature of its flagship event, Appleton Special Dream Weekend, by bundling the five-day Negril celebration season tickets with all of Expedia?s offerings.

With this new partnership, a consumer anywhere in the world, will be able to visit the Appleton Special Dream Weekends landing page: http://www.expedia.com/p/info-partner/jamaica-dream-weekend and book everything right there ? season tickets, flights, hotels, ground transportation, excursions, travel insurance and more ? a true one-stop shop from two brands you know, love, and trust.

Public relations director for Dream Entertainment Ltd, Kamal Bankay, said, ?We have always known that our event has a huge global allure, our 2014 staging saw thousands of persons coming to Negril to party with us from as many as five continents across the globe. This new partnership with Expedia hopes to solidify promotion in those feeder markets where we already have a presence by making the entire process to come to Appleton Special Dream Weekend easy and seamless, while introducing our exciting product to the millions of existing customers that book travel through Expedia.?

Edwin Martinez, Expedia?s senior marketing manager for the region said, ?At Expedia, we aim to provide new and existing partners with ample opportunities to reach our global customers. Our partnership with Dream Entertainment is just one example of the wide array of merchandising opportunities we can provide to our Jamaican hotel partners, and we look forward to delivering more opportunities through future entertainment event partnerships on the island.?

Historic Deal

This historic deal is coming at a time when Dream Entertainment Limited is making a significant push into the overseas market by introducing launches for the 2015 staging in Barbados, St Lucia, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Guyana, Germany, and Japan. Marketing Director Ron Burke said, ?We are seeing significant growth and interest in these markets all around the world, and we know by exposing our product to them in a significant way, by launching in these territories, and then providing them with the easiest and most trusted source for bundled travel, we have a winning combination.?

Appleton Special Dream Weekend is also a flagship event under the Government of Jamaica, Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment?s groundbreaking entertainment tourism project: ?Jamrock Summer? which is destined to increase tourist arrivals between May 15 and August 15, annually across the length and breadth of the island. This partnership with Expedia has been fully supported by the Jamaica Tourist Board and hoteliers across the island. The JTB has stepped up to the plate and provided tangible support for online advertising on Expedia.com. Additionally, many hotels across the island are able to purchase featured listings on Appleton Special Dream Weekend?s landing page on Expedia.com.

With this partnership under the belt, Dream Weekend is poised to have another record-breaking year of tourist arrivals, thus contributing even more to the well-needed foreign-exchange inflows into the country, ultimately affecting the tourism bottom line in a positive way and specifically pumping over a billion Jamaican dollars into the resort town of Negril.